The Future, Shuffled
by Antithesis
Summary: A few sketches on life on earth after the Axiom landed. Based on 10 songs chosen seemingly at random.


**Suffer (EFA 128 Mix) / The Echoing Green**

Captain McCrea had said his words, and yet he was the last to leave.

How was this possible? He had brought them back to earth, the plants were growing, the population was thriving, so why…

He hadn't even known her. Doris McLendon, the oldest passenger aboard the Axiom. So naturally she would be the first to die.

Somehow it seemed WRONG. This wasn't supposed to happen. Everything was supposed to be right once they had returned.

No, he reminded himself, that's not the case. The plants still required work. People still got sick. They still died. Things were better, but they weren't perfect.

Yet.

* * *

**Cosmic Transformations / Adhesive_Boy**

Leroy walked through the forest, accompanied only by a notepad and an E.V.E. probe. Not _the_ EVE probe, mind you, but one of the others.

"That," he said, pointing at an odd growth on a tree. The EVE hovered over to it and scanned it.

"Recorded," it droned.

Leroy nodded and scribbled in his notebook. He then looked up at the giant redwood.

"It's strange," he said. The EVE looked at him.

"Strange?" it parroted.

"Yeah, strange," Leroy said. "It'd take hundreds of years for it to grow this big. But we only found plant growth twenty years ago, right?"

"Affirmative," the EVE said.

Leroy smiled. "I wonder… have they been growing all this time? And we didn't find them…" he closed his eyes and sat down.

"...didn't find them until we were meant to."

* * *

**When I Look At the World / U2**

"Eve-a," WALL-E said patiently, holding out the lighter.

EVE glanced at it and shook her head. "Wrong," she said. "All wrong."

WALL-E sighed. He rolled over to her and tried to take her hand. She slipped out of his grasp and floated to the other end of the truck. "All wrong," she said again.

WALL-E collapsed himself. She noticed this, startled. Slowly, he pulled himself back up, pulled one of his eyes back out and back in. Then he held the lighter back out and lit it.

Slowly, EVE understood. She had no reason to lose hope.

* * *

**What If I Stumble (DoubleDutch Remix) / dc Talk**

Captain McCrea paced back and forth on the old bridge. The whole ship had been deactivated years ago, but he still came here once in a while. It was the last place anyone would expect to find him, given all the horrible memories associated with this place.

Slowly, he ran a hand across AUTO's soulless eye. What if he did the same thing AUTO did? He was the leader. The one in charge of the remnant of humanity. What if the power went to his head? What if he made a poor decision? What if something happened, would he ever be able to forgive himself? Or be forgiven by the others?

There was movement by the doorway. "Jared?" a familiar voice called.

His heart leapt. At least she would forgive him.

* * *

**I Am Free / Newsboys**

Eve took off. She weaved through the garbage mountains and skirted the ground of the abandoned freeways and monorail tracks. Once she was clear of the city, she tucked in her arms and shot west, breaking the sound barrier.

She soared over the plains, some of which were beginning to show life. It was much spottier in this area, as none of the WALL-E bots had been able to touch this area. The thought saddened EVE slightly.

Silently, she resolved to find a way to get rid of the garbage. She was free of her directive, and she had to make sure WALL-E would one day be free of his.

* * *

**Like Rubies / Fold Zan**

The child flipped through the pages. "Did everyone have books, Mom?"

"Not always," she said. "When your father and I grew up, no one had books."

The child looked horrified. "But, what did you do?"

She laughed. "Well, we sat in chairs, and talked to screens. We didn't even see each other most of the time." Seeing the child still horrified, she smiled at him and picked him up. "It's okay, though," she said softly. "WALL-E came to rescue us."

"And he brought books?"

She pondered for a moment. "No, but he helped us find them."

* * *

**King / Tree 63**

"I'm concerned about what I've been hearing," the captain said, addressing the crowd that was what remained of humanity. "There's been talk of going back into space."

"Why not?" someone in the middle of the crowd yelled.

The captain did his best to maintain his composure. "Why not? Why not?" He calmed himself. "No, I can see why you would ask that. In space, we had every need catered to us. We had no responsibility. We had no work. And now…" He allowed himself a chuckle. "Now, life isn't so easy."

He turned and looked the crowd straight in the eyes. "But tell me this, can any of you say that you were alive on that ship?"

* * *

**Here Is Our King / Chris Tomlin**

WALL-E was just a little worried. This was the first storm to come around since the humans had returned. But so far it didn't look as severe as some of the ones he had experienced. In fact…

He glanced again at EVE, and she nodded, her eyes smiling. No thunder, no sand, just pure water falling from the sky. WALL-E looked out at the settlement and saw a few of the older children running around in the rain.

EVE hovered over to him, and they held hands and looked up at the sky. It was as if the planet was welcoming them back home.

* * *

**Dead Hearts (Dealta-S Further In Mix) / The Echoing Green**

John stood in the doorway staring at the floor. "I…" he stumbled. "I… Can you forgive me?"

Mary's glare softened. "It's not that simple, John."

John's head shot up, his face desperate. "Please? Look, I know what I said was wrong, and I—"

"John," Mary interrupted. "I'll forgive you if you forgive me."

John smiled. "How could I not?"

* * *

**With Or Without You / U2**

Captain McCrea trudged home. Overseeing was work, even if it wasn't with his hands. All he wanted was to get back to his tent and sleep.

So why was he taking the long way home?

He stopped. He noticed he had stopped in front of a very particular tent. He wondered why he did it. He knew exactly why.

A figure appeared at the entrance. She noticed her visitor and smiled a knowing smile. "Lost again, Jared?"

The captain took off his cap. "'Fraid so, Sarah. Mind if I come in and catch my bearings?"


End file.
